By: Dan Gettis of Daniel Gettis Photography
I have been able to visit Pee Dee NWR a number of times over the last few weeks and thought I would share some of the birds that have been hanging around. Up until the last week or two it had been a little slower than usual so I guess the birds were getting tired of the heat as well, but my last few visits have seen an increase in action and I am very excited to see what the next couple of months brings.
As always, you are almost guaranteed to see some Red Headed Woodpeckers. They can be found across the entire refuge but the easiest and best views of them are around the main impoundment behind the visitor’s center where they continuously fly from the dead trees in the water to the trees on the other side of Wildlife Drive. There are usually anywhere from 10-30 or so in that area.
One morning last weekend I spotted 5 Red Tailed Hawks sitting in 2 trees close together in that same impoundment. They didn’t stay long but I always at least hear a hawk in that area, sometimes multiple. Red Shouldered, Red Tailed and Cooper’s Hawks are going to be the most common.
The Great Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Green Herons and Great Blue Herons are starting to add to their numbers again. Lately there have been 4-5 Green Heron in the impoundment, 5-6 Little Blue Heron, 1-2 Great Blue Heron and 3-4 Great Egrets. In the afternoons, White Ibis have been flying in as well.
There are a couple of Barred Owls that like to hang out in the thick woods off Wildlife Drive. I haven’t seen one of them in a while but I did hear 2 calling back-and-forth very close to the road 2 weeks ago.
If you hang out for a while or walk slowly along Wildlife Drive, you will potentially see: Brown Thrashers, Sparrows, Red Winged Blackbirds, Cardinals, Blue Grosbeak, Eastern Bluebirds, Pewee, Phoebe, Chickadees, White Eyed Vireo, Common Yellowthroat, Black and White Warblers, Prothonotary Warblers, Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Pileated Woodpeckers, Yellow Billed Cuckoos, Indigo Buntings, Tufted Titmouse, Blue Gray Gnatcatchers, Summer Tanager, Great Crested Flycatchers, and others I am surely forgetting (all of these have been seen in the last couple of weeks).
Lastly, Ruby – throated Hummingbirds. The main impoundment has a lot of button bushes between the road and the water. The last couple of weeks I have been seeing more and more hummingbirds in those bushes. They love the button bushes and there are a lot of honeysuckle vines and trumpet creepers in the refuge as well and if you just sit and watch those areas for a while you will see one.
Good luck!
-Dan Gettis
Daniel Gettis is a talented wildlife photographer based out of Charlotte North Carolina. Known for his outstanding bear and bird photographs, he can be found shooting at some of his favorite locations at the PeeDee NWR, Pungo Lake and the Pocosin Lakes NWR.
Visit his website at https://dangettisphotography.zenfolio.com
Find Dan Gettis on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/danielsviewphotography & on
Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/28204dan
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